Training Monday 22/1/18

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
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Here are some belated notes from training yesterday, I’ve been a bit too busy to get it out earlier but as no one else has put one together better late than never.

I was a relatively short session with training starting around 10am in pleasant conditions with a moderate wind and finishing around 11.45. I missed the first 45 minutes but caught up with Jackie Mihocek who filled me in, we also had a great chat after training.

Joe spent most of the time doing some running and having goal kicking practice on the Etihad oval and Francis was also out there running. I overheard a trainer telling him to go as hard as he could if there was no pain but to lighten off if he felt anything. He is no doubt being very carefully managed.

Colyer and Ridley again didn’t train, neither did Smack and Long and Lavender were only out for a short period. Mason Fletcher again did a lot of the drills with the first year players and to me looks quite good for his age and has a lot of similar traits to his father.

A lot of the main session was taken up with a very intense match practice session with 34 players taking part and only using half the ground from the backline to the centre line. It was very congested and played with an incredible intensity, Jackie and I agreed that neither of us could recall a training session where the players went in so hard and the tackling was as fierce.

For what it’s worth we took note of how the 2 teams were split up, I’m not sure too much can be read into it but the red team clearing the defense were:

McGrath, Belly, Parish, Gleeson, Zaharakis, Green, Hurley, McNiece, Draper, McKenna, Stringer, Brown, Clarke, Redman Ambrose, Mynott and Dea

Attacking the goals were:

Stewart, Tippa, Laverde, Bags, Goddard, Myers, Zerrett, Luey, Guelfi, Houlihan, Langford, Begley, Jerrett, Hooker, Smith, Fanta and Heppell

I didn’t notice Hartley and Saad in the match practice but they did complete the rest of training.

It was hard to find many stand out players as it was so tight and congested, although Stringer did have a few very good clearances but also fumbled and missed kicks on a couple of occasions (as did a lot of players with the pressure being imposed).

Bellchambers, Luey and Draper later went off to do concentrated ruck work, with Belly being the clear winner to me. The club apparently is very happy with the way Draper is coming on and expect good things of him.

The rest of the players broke off into 2 or 3 groups and did a lot of work around stoppages and clearances.

Jackie also commented that it’s been a long time since he can remember the attitude of the players being so good, extremely competitive but the also seemed to be enjoying themselves. It appears the issues of the past have been put behind them

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Francis lives! Thanks for the report.

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Too good, thank you.

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Ignore all the ignorant uninformed BS about Aaron.

He is simply struggling through seemingly perpetual injury, which can play havoc with the mind.

Despite claims of not going hard enough, mentally weak etc etc, these injuries are the result of actually going too hard as a young colt trying to make up ground on his peers after injury,… which was the result of going too hard,… against the advice of trainers.

I don’t know if being a redhead is a defining correlation, but he is very similar to Laverde, and the situation he found himself in with injury, due to the very same mindset,

Sometimes a young bull just can’t help running down the hill to “smash one of them!”, despite the wisdom of elders.

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I’m glad to see a lot of attention being put on the way we work out of congestion. It’s been the poorest part of our game (goal kicking aside).

When an 18 year old (McGrath) has the cleanest hands under pressure, at the club… there is some work to do.

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Has Hookers goal kicking improved? is he doing lots of set shot practice?

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What?
It is his major weapon, and always will be.

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Thank you!! Was checking all day yesterday- so much appreciated! Great to hear such positive things… counting down!

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How many players in the AFL have hands as good as his, let alone in their first year?

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  1. Is Stringer really having such dominate impact or is it that he’s new and all eyes are on him? Where does he rank purely based on this preseason?
  2. How does this preseason rate to last years? Is it a dramatic improvement on last year as I would have thought it would only be a slight improvement? What are the most noticeable improvements and changes?
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I would say from the few sessions I have watched Stringer does stand out,!looks good in stop play situations. Agree has spayed a few kicks, but I’m excited by what i have seen.
I believe this preseason is better, as it appears we are really focusing on shortcomings from last year like stoppages and most players are completing most sessions.
One thing I noticed on Monday was when players like Raz, Saad got the ball had a licence to run.
I agree the session was intense and was hard to tell who did well as it was so congested

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Hi I was just wondering if anyone could please let me know what time training will be tomorrow.Thanks

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11.00am according to the website.

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Thanks Nackers. Anything to report on Clarke in the close in drills?

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A lot of the main session was taken up with a very intense match practice session with 34 players taking part and only using half the ground from the backline to the centre line. It was very congested and played with an incredible intensity, Jackie and I agreed that neither of us could recall a training session where the players went in so hard and the tackling was as fierce.

Jackie also commented that it’s been a long time since he can remember the attitude of the players being so good, extremely competitive but the also seemed to be enjoying themselves. It appears the issues of the past have been put behind them

Music to my ears

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Think he was playing on a wing on the defensive side of the stoppage. Do remember he had a clearing kick to space.
As said by Nackers it was hard to notice any players

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Exactly.

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Exciting. Just like being there, thanks all.

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Thanks Nackers and anyone else who does training reports. They are great to read for those of us who can’t get to training.

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We were having quite a discussion about McGrath during and after training. Yes he has great hands but it’s much more than that. He has an incredible awareness of where players are around him and has often already decided where he’s going to go with the ball before he’s received it.

Added to that he has great composure in pressure situations and can pull it all together by being very accurate with his handballs as well.

I distinctly remember one training drill from last pre season where there were 2 opposing groups trying to get past each other in a small confined area just with handballs. He managed to pull off this miraculous handball over the top of about 5 players to a running receiver who didn’t have to break stride. I was amazed, not only that he manged to pull it off but that he could even see the option in the first place with all the frenzied movement.

As cul_de_sac says it’s not only the players at Essendon he’s better than but most in the league.

I’ve also noticed that in match simulations he has been much more prepared to run with the ball and take on a tackler than last year, where his first instincts where to give the ball off at the first opportunity.

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